Hawks: Sizing up Cole and the D-tackles

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I’ve been asked several times since Saturday, “Why would the Seahawks give all that money to sign a backup defensive tackle from Packers?”

I’ve wondered since the Seahawks signed Colin Cole to that five-year, $21 million deal, “Why was this guy their top priority in free agency?”

Club president Tim Ruskell answered those questions today, and also spelled out Cole’s role, after the news conference to announce the signing of wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

On what sold them on Cole: “Just his fit for our team. The kind of guy he is. And the way he plays the game. When you can get a guy at the nose (tackle), who’s a pillar – and even where they’re double-teaming him, he does not move and you know they’re not going to run right here – then it just frees up the rest of the line.”

On what made them lock on to a guy who had been a backup with the Packers: “It was the traits for what we need and what (new line coach) Dan Quinn was looking for at the position.”

Cole will be the nose tackle, allowing Brandon Mebane to slide over to the three-technique tackle that Rocky Bernard played. Former defensive coordinator John Marshall would slide his D-tackles. New coordinator Gus Bradley will have Cole line up over, or shade to either side, of the center.

“This really will allow Brandon to do some of those other things we like from him – which is disrupt the run, because he gets across the line quickly with his first step,” Ruskell said. “It’s also going to allow Mebane to do a little bit more in terms of rushing the passer.”

Red Bryant, a fourth-round draft choice last year, now fills the role of being able to step in for either Cole or Mebane. The fourth tackle in the rotation will remain Craig Terrill.

“It’s a good group,” Ruskell said.

Cole reminds me of a bigger Chuck Darby, the since-departed squatty D-tackle who was one of Ruskell’s first free-agent additions when he came to the Seahawks in 2005.

“Not a bad comparison,” Ruskell said. “Because he has that kind of quickness and he’s a very intelligent guy and very instinctive about the run game. He just has that knack.”